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What I could hardly accept in Turkey that I couldn´t know the exact price of stuffs. I don´t like bargaining about prices. The salers were extremely friendly in the bazaars and I was surprised that they knew some Hungarian phrases to entertain us. But they were not fierce at all. Everybody must handle them somehow, because such cases can happen eveywhere, so if you don´t plan to buy something, then tell them firmly. And I tried to say some Turkish words as well for which they were grateful.
Istanbul was full of policemen. I know they are protecting the tourists, but it was a bit strange to see so many there. I could see their commando uniform too with plexi shields, because there were Kurdish protest somewhere on the streets.
What about the women? Maybe we were afraid of being insultated, but there were not such cases. They looked them of course, but there were so many chadorless women on the streets, that our trip-mates were only some of them. And I can´t blame the local guys, because there is a proverb in Hungarian language : "I choosed allegiance, not blindness." 
When I booked my bus trip to Balkan, my relatives were worried about me. But I wanted to see and feel Turkey with my own eyes. My final conclusions are that they were politer, friendlier than Greeks or Bulgarians. There are some basic rules which must be kept. It is a shame that so many Christian visitor don´t know anything about mosques, the Muslim faith. So the first shock was for them, when they had to put down the slippers and sandals at the entrance door. I was bit angry, because our guide could have talked about this basic requirments on the bus... My other nightmare became true when we stayed at the center of the Great Mosque of Bursa, while the imam began to call the believers to prey at afternoon. Males were in the front of us, while the women stayed behind us. Then our Hungarian guide translated and yelled every sentence what our Turkish guide had said. I wished we should leave the mosque. And do you know what has happened? They began to make photos about locals (even about preying women in the sacred temples). I was so angry, because they crossed a very important cultural line. I was so ashamed because of my group. As we left the mosque, some locals asked from which country did we come from? They were a bit disappointed, but they smiled after we told them we are from Hungary (Macaristan). After this terrible cultural gathering we visited the Green Mosque too, where some member of my group asked whether they had to do it again or not? Bah... I could not find words ...
They were a bit strange in Istanbul, because they were interested only in the bazaar or the harem (Top kapı palace)....
Edited (2/10/2010) by Platschu
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